Cape Verde Rehashed

Jason Axt

First Impressions:
On the first day it was evident that Praia was very different and much more complex than I had initially thought. It has the obvious problems of water quality, water supply, energy supply and consumption. Also it has deeper conflicts concerning unclear property laws, a conflict between cultural mentality and legalities, incomplete construction tendencies, a normality of stealing utilities, a non-regulatory taxation, corrupt government, and a culture that is heavily influenced by the Portuguese, Brazilians, and Americans. Most things, including politics and media, were influenced by the Portugal, African mainland, Brazil, or America. I found it hard to find things that were historically true to Cape Verdean culture. Cape Verde is a developing country with many physical and political issues that need to be rethought in order to grow and sustain its people, culture, and beautiful landscapes.


House Life:
My family wakes up with the sun and sleeps when it sets. This is much different than America, in which I wake by alarm. So when the roosters crowed, my family was up and functional. My mom was dressed and had already boiled water, Lourenco either went out for a run, or showered and started getting ready for work, Patrick was up and running around, my Dad had gone to work, and my brother was almost out the door to go to his construction job by the time I was awake. I was usually the last one up, except on Saturday’s, which the family slept in. By the last week, my body was use to waking up with the sun and roosters.

Transportation:
I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of transit they had in Praia and Santiago. Praia was very walkable considering how hilly it is. Everything was either on the next hill or at the next valley, and there were usually sidewalks, staircases, and shortcuts for pedestrians. Also cars stopped for pedestrians in crosswalks.
Praia had two competing bus services, and an abundance of taxis.The buses ran during peak hours of the day, but the taxis were always around and traveled just about anywhere. From Praia, I could go to Tarrafal, Assomada, or Santa Cruz for the day with the use of cabbie-vans. The transit was all privately owned and operated, which was evident in the higher quality of vehicles, but also the discomfort of packing illegally as many people at once to maximize profit per trip. It was easier for me to get around in Praia than it is to traverse Milwaukee.

Food and Water:
In my house, food never appeared to be a problem. I ate the same gumbo/ stew for dinner nightly, with one exception of cachupa on holiday. I was always told to eat more than my fill. Even though I ate the same rice with stew, I never tired of it. It consisted of either chicken or fish and usually contained beans, carrots, potatoes, papaya, and all other vegetables conveniently around. Water was the issue. In the last week we ran low and had to limit our water usage to food consumption. This meant no showers, flushing toilets, and washing clothes. Normally the water would come directly from the city into the house, but during this time we had to get water from the town water house as well as a private truck.
For breakfast, we enjoyed ham and cheese grilled sandwiches, thanks to George Forman, every morning before catching the number 6 bus to Plato. I brought American coffee as a gift to share, but they believed it was just for me. My mother preferred her Nestle instant coffee instead. In terms of food, one day really opened my eyes about their food consumption.
My mother dropped a full bowl of stew on the ground. Instead of throwing it all to the animals, she collected what she could and served it for dinner, then mopped up the rest and fed that to the animals saving about 70% of dinner that night. I came up with the conclusions that this had to do with not wanting to waste food, a lack of food normally, or just thinking she collected it before it was considered not edible. Dinner was delicious anyway. I also noticed that my Mom didn’t refrigerate with the stew and rice. Instead she covered it to prevent bugs from getting at the food. This could have been for a number of different reasons that I did not ask about.

Culture Shock:
The most culturally shocking experience was definitely the language barrier. One day Lourenco and I went to Assomada to buy a car. As he went to negotiate with the dealer, he left me with two of his brother’s friends at a bar for four hours. The first hour I was excited to try and communicate with them, but as time wore on I became exhausted. By hour four, all I could say was I am too tired to try and talk with them. We just sat there staring at each other. It was probably the most mentally exhausted I have ever been. I really felt bad for them because they took interest in me, but I couldn’t give answers. Everything else was easy to adapt to compare to the language barrier.

Bests:
Everyday with my family and Lourenco was great. Being able to walk around and see Praia was excellent too. One of the most memorable experiences I had was a late night cab ride. I was coming back from either the University of Cape Verde campus or Santa Antonio one night and I was having trouble hailing a cab. I may have walked for 10 to 15 minutes before I got one, but when I did, the cab driver understood what I was saying in Portuguese and then spoke in clear English asking me why I was in Cape Verde. I was pleasantly surprised, and carried out a conversation about why I was there and what we as a group were studying. That was the fastest cab ride that I had in Cape Verde, but it was also the cheapest one for the distance. It put in perspective that there are people here that speak English very well. It also showed me that English is almost being integrated into most every other country in the world, but Americans do not integrate another language into our society. This made me believe that what Americans do is very relevant and important to the rest of the world, good and bad, and to understand better, we need to take that extra effort that they did to understand others.

My Town:
Living in Achada Grande, it didn’t become apparent that I was in a gangland until the UniCV engineering student presentations. The very first night, Lourenco and I saw someone get arrested when walking around the town, but I didn’t think anything of it. Lourenco never divulged any information about it either. Only after hearing about the gangs and the concerns expressed about walking at night did the image of the arrest come back to mind. In this realization, I became more cautious when late at night. On the first holiday, I saw a young male waving a revolver in the air. I still didn’t feel directly in danger, but concerned about the direction and overall future safety of Achada Grande. After talking with Lourenco, he explained that a lot of thug youth were moving north, to a new community called Jamaica, named after the popularity of Bob Marley. This revealed that the Cape Verdean youth are similar to American youth, easily influenced by music videos, and pop culture images from America and other countries. It seemed that their education was coming from the television and not from the schools. This opened up discussion with Lourenco about the drug business and the gang activity in Achada Grande. He then verbally explained the phrase “cash or body” to me, and said that anyone in his community with an expensive car probably is selling drugs. I can see this becoming more of a struggle in the near future in Achada Grande.

The Return:
Coming back to America has revealed to me that Americans have it made in the shade, but still are unhappy for some reason. The constant worry of basic needs is not evident with most Americans, but I have not seen one American as happy or happier than most of the kids and youth in Inferno. The constant obsession with possession that America has really revealed itself the first day I returned. I saw so many impatient people complaining about the most insignificant things. It was evident that most American’s are terrible listeners. I struggle with this still, but it was obviously evident in many other people who were impatient with receiving information. The second or third day back I had small mind laps crossing the street and walked out in front of a car expecting it to stop. Luckily I was able to avoid getting hit, but this woke me up to being in America. Also I remember that all cars in Cape Verde were manual. I have concluded that all American cars should be manual as well to deter multitasking while driving and inherently bad drivers from traversing the roads. I would guess that 20% less cars would be on the road from an inability to drive manual.
When I got back I calculated the amount of water I used for a full running water shower. I used 5 times more water to wash myself than I did in Cape Verde. After that I no longer run the water while I soap myself. This still is twice the amount of water used in Cape Verde, but I can live with that. Also before Cape Verde I would run the water from the faucet to wash my dishes by hand. Now I use a bucket of water to do my dishes and I wait till the sink is full to minimize the water consumption. I also don’t drive my car anymore, but enjoy walking and riding the bus. It takes more time, but gives me more time to read. These little things are just the baby steps for me.
When I first got back to America, I also found it hard to believe that we needed more than one light on in a room, but my roommate would keep the lights on everywhere. It now bothers me. I try to use as little light as possible, but sometimes I trip over things and need to use better discretion.
Even though I try and do all these energy conservation methods, I think the biggest change has come in my attitude toward things. Life has no longer become a competition with others. It has become more about being happy with what I have and studying things that are enjoyable. I have become less lazy with my habits. I am a much more positive and balanced person. I am actually on time here for more things surprisingly, but that may be because everything that I have appointments for are in the same general location. I take my time with things and want to do them well. I have a different mindset on importance and responsibility, and I respond differently now to certain people. I have noticed when dealing with people that are very overbearing and impatient; I usually take extra time and not get caught up in their haste. I have a heightened awareness of things going on. I think my personality has definitely changed the most, and hopefully I can grow more through this experience into the person I will become.